Unplugged is the first live album (third overall) by American recording artist Alicia Keys. It was recorded as part of the television program MTV Unplugged on July 4, 2005 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, New York City, and released in the United States on October 11, 2005 by J Records, including songs from her multi-platinum albums Songs in A Minor and The Diary of Alicia Keys. The album debuted on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart at number one, with first-week sales of 196,000 copies in the U.S. and over 245,000 copies worldwide—the highest debut for an MTV Unplugged album since Nirvana's 1994 MTV Unplugged in New York and the first Unplugged by a female artist to debut at number one. The album has sold over one million copies in the United States and over 2.5 million copies worldwide. Additionally, it received four nominations for the 2006 Grammy Awards, including Best R&B Album.

The Element of Freedom is the fourth studio album by American recording artist Alicia Keys, released on December 11, 2009, by J Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during May to September 2009 at The Oven Studios in Long Island, New York. Production was handled by Keys, Jeff Bhasker, Swizz Beatz, Noah "40" Shebib, Toby Gad and Kerry "Krucial" Brothers. Departing from the classicist soul music of Keys' previous albums, The Element of Freedom has a mid-tempo, low-key sound and features mostly ballads.

The Diary of Alicia Keys is the second studio album by American recording artist Alicia Keys. It was released in the United States on December 2, 2003 by J Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during 2002 to 2003 at various recording studios, and production was handled primarily by Keys with contributions from Kerry Brothers, Jr., Timbaland, Dwayne Wiggins, Dre & Vidal, Easy Mo Bee and Kanye West.

Songs in A Minor is the debut studio album by American recording artist Alicia Keys. It was released in the United States on June 5, 2001 by J Records. After graduating from high school, Keys signed with Columbia Records to begin her music career. She recorded an album in 1998 under the label, which they rejected. Her contract subsequently ended with Columbia after a dispute with the label, and Keys later signed with Clive Davis. An accomplished, classically trained pianist, Keys wrote, arranged and produced a majority of the album, including "Jane Doe", which was the only song in the key of A minor.

Girl on Fire is the fifth studio album by American recording artist Alicia Keys. The album, which was released on November 22, 2012, is Keys' first release with RCA Records following Sony Music Entertainment's decision to close J Records during a company reshuffle. Girl on Fire was conceived shortly after Keys' marriage to record producer and rapper Swizz Beatz as well as the birth of her first child, Egypt. It is an R&B album with a mixture of conventional genre songs and piano ballads, some of which touch on Keys' marriage and motherhood.

First aired ten days prior to the release of Girl on Fire, Alicia Keys' VH1 Storytellers program featured six songs. While this set expands the set to 11 songs, it does not present the full performance. Heavy editing was involved; certain portions of Keys' dialogue re hacked up, crowd noise is unnaturally lowered and raised in volume, and there is little evident effort to make the songs flow. Keys' first words here, the lead-in to "No One," are "We were at the end of the album, and it was finished, and…" – so it provokes the feeling of walking into the venue as the gig is in progress. Furthermore, much of her intro to the following "Brand New Me" was cut. For all its choppiness, VH1 Storytellers is enjoyably off-the-cuff…

Alicia Keys was good when she represented lesbian gangsta chic. The moment she stepped out of that, partly due to the hype machine of Clive Davis, her music went downhill from that point on. With hit songs such as "Fallin'", "Girlfriend", "A Woman's Worth", "You Don't Know My Name" and "Karma", Keys was a powerhouse but getting the pop dollar moved her out of being worthy and talented on her own terms. Her first two CD's focused on what she was like before pop success ruined her and maybe she was aiming for this the entire time.

Together with Danish sample specialist Thomas Skarbee and impulse response expert Ernest Cholakis, Alicia Keys has created a virtual piano that meets her professional standards and embodies the soulful sound that has become her trademark as a superstar. This is the piano sound that has helped Miss Keys win multiple Grammys and reach the top of the charts. ALICIA'S KEYS was sampled from her own playing, recorded in the artist's own studio under the supervision of her trusted engineer, Ann Mincieli.